Text: Luke 2:8-9There
were some shepherds in that part of the country who were spending the
night in the fields, taking care of their flocks. An angel of the Lord
appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone over them. They were
terribly afraid.

They didn’t
expect that!

Christmas is a time of surprises. We love
to see the look of excitement and surprise on the faces of children as they open
their Christmas presents.Last
Christmas Miriam and I both received a Mr
Men book each from our daughter and her husband.Inside was the inscription that we would be able to read this to our
newest grandchild to be born later in 2014.What a exciting surprise! We weren’t expecting that!

The Christmas story is full of people who
weren’t expecting God to come to earth as a baby.In 2012 a New Zealander, Simone Graham, wrote a children’s book entitled
“An Unexpected Christmas”.It’s a book that has been made into a drama for kids and has become very
popular.You might have seen it
before but it’s worth seeing again. (You can find it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM1XusYVqNY
)

Let’s think about this for a minute.
When Gabriel announced to Mary she was going to have a baby – she wasn’t
expecting that!
What is more, when Gabriel said her baby was son of the Most High God – she
wasn’t expecting that!
When Joseph was told that Mary was pregnant – he wasn’t expecting that!
When Mary and Joseph got to Bethlehem and Joseph wanted the best place for Mary
to deliver her child and all he could find was a stable – he wasn’t expecting
that!
We heard about the shepherds and the message of the angels in the video and the
birth of the Saviour – the one whom they had been waiting for all this time to
bring great joy to his people.That
God would choose them to be the first to hear this Good News – they weren’t
expecting that!
When King Herod was asked by some passing Wisemen from the East about a new born
king – he wasn’t expecting that!
The Wisemen came bringing special gifts.They expected to see a prince.They knelt before Mary’s baby with all humility and worshipped him – they
saw the Prince of Heaven sitting in Mary’s lap – they weren’t expecting that!

The Christmas story really is an unusual
story, an unexpected way for God to react to the way people were behaving in the
world.As God says in the story
book version, “I feel so far away from my
kids down there.It’s hard to be
friends with people when you don’t like what they’re doing. I think it’s time –
time for us to step in”.The
angels react in much the same way as we would and suggest sending down an angel
army or at least someone very powerful to deal with what is happening on earth.Evil is a very powerful thing in the human heart.God could send angel warriors to deal with those who have forgotten their
Creator Father, but no, he will send his son – not as a warrior prince but as a
baby whose mother will be a peasant girl who will give birth to him in a stable.As we heard – no one in heaven was expecting that.

Why did God choose this unexpected plan as
the best one to save the world?God
is all wise and all-knowing and he chooses a plan that places the Prince of
heaven in the arms of a teenage girl who had no child rearing experience and no
family in Bethlehem to help her.

God chooses a plan that would place the
Prince of Heaven in an unstable political situation; God chose a plan
that placed his son in a country where a tyrant king ruled and jealously guarded
his authority.The Father’s plan
meant he would be born amongst animals
and straw and poop in a stable.He
will be so small, tender, and
vulnerable.Why did God choose this
plan above any other plan that might have been suggested in the heavenly court?

For God there was only one plan that would
work.It was a plan that grew out
of his love for all people.The
only way he could rescue them completely from their own destruction and trouble
was to send his son to become human just like them.He came into the world just as we do.He lived in a family with brothers and sisters and, of course,
grandparents, cousins, uncles and aunts just as we do.He grew and learnt new things and did and felt everything that we do.That God would humble himself and become like us – no one expected that.

Then the young carpenter from Nazareth
started speaking God's Word with authority, he taught about the Kingdom of God,
about living God’s way, he healed the sick, raised the dead and stopped storms,
even challenged the church authorities.No one expected that!

His followers grew in number but also
opposition to his teaching grew.
His enemies had him arrested, tortured and he died on a cross.His disciples didn’t expect that!
Before he dies he doesn’t curse his enemies but cries out for all to hear,
“Father forgive them”. No one expected that!

A couple of days later, women go to the
tomb where Jesus is buried and they are greeted by angels who tell them that
Jesus has risen from the dead.When
they tell the disciples they didn’t believe them because they weren’t expecting
that!

In fact, when you look at this rescue plan
of God in its totality it all seems a bit crazy.It true no one expected God to save humanity in this way, not even the
disciples who were the closest to Jesus and had been taught so much about God’s
ways and still didn’t understand. God’s last words in the video were very true,
“They won’t be expecting that!” but
look how effective that plan was.

The angels who announced the birth of Jesus
to Mary and Joseph and then to the shepherds excitedly told about the good news
that bring great joy to all people.
The Saviour is coming into the world, his name is ‘Jesus’ because he will save
people from sin, death and give eternal life to all who trust in him.

Christmas shows us that God does some very
unexpected things and works in some very unexpected ways.In the same way, expect
God to work in unexpected ways in your life.
Maybe God will challenge you with new directions in your life;
maybe give you peace and hope in what seems to be a hopeless situation:
maybe tear down some old barriers and restore a relationship;
maybe reach out to a person you would never have reached out before;maybe give you time and energy to
help others in new ways;
and it might happen that in the end you will say, “I wouldn’t have expected
that!